May 2012 Letters

PG Takes New York
Hey Rebecca and Jason,
It was a real honor to
meet you guys today!
You guys are awesome
and Premier Guitar is my
favorite magazine to go to
when I try to stay current
on music and guitar rigs of the pros. Hope you enjoy the rest
of your visit in NY and tell Admiral Joe Perry I say “Hi” please.
Sincerely, Matthew Wang
New York, New York

Forgotten Heroes
What a wonderful—and
lengthy—article on the incredible
Jimmy Wyble, complete with
great photos and some tab/score.
I’d love to see more on Wyble, especially
his contrapuntal approach
to playing, perhaps by David
Oakes or Sid Jacobs. Best feature
I’ve seen in a guitar mag in a long
time. Thanks, Premier Guitar!
—Dennis Roberts
via Facebook

Thank you, Dennis! So glad you
dug the piece. There are so many
other Forgotten Heroes candidates
to get to that we can’t promise
we’ll put out more on Jimmy in
the near future, but we’ll definitely
keep him in mind for future
lesson material. Have a great one!

Baker’s Dozen?
Someone tell John Bohlinger, in
as nice a way as possible, please,
that there are indeed 12 notes
and the 13th one is the octave.
—Robert DiMaio
via Facebook

Haha, yes, a few readers have
pointed that out. Our bad for
not catching in editing, and John
responded to readers on his onlinearticle: “Whoops, Eddie was
right... and so was Chris and Steve
Wright and the rest. There are 12.
I am a high-functioning idiot.”

Down to Earth
What is it—the staff members
fight to see who can come up
with the most obscure bands
to listen to just so they can be
“different” [“Staff Picks: PGGets Pumped,” April 2012]? I
understand not being a music
lemming, but come on, enough
is enough with the obscurity.
The Shins? Ben Folds Five?
Hush Arbors? Dirty Three?
My head’s going to explode. I
have to read this train wreck of
musical obscurity with a morbid
fascination every issue. Otherwise,
great magazine.
—Phil Starr
Groveport, Ohio

Going the Distance
Dear Premier Guitar,
Love the magazine. Have a big
question regarding the article on
building the Fender Tele Baritone
[“How to Convert YourAxe to a Baritone,” March2012]. Your photographs show
the extra length of the new
neck, indicating it will fit in the
“pocket” of the tele body,
creating a longer length for the
12th fret. I’ve always understood
the measurement from
the nut to the 12th fret, and the
measurement from the 12th fret
to the bridge had to be equal. I
did not notice the bridge having
been relocated. How can you
account for perfect intonation
in this instance?
—Jerry Gilsterap

Hi Jerry, great question! First,
you’re right: The distance between
the nut and 12th fret must
equal the distance between the
12th fret and the saddles. The
Warmoth baritone neck has 24
frets, as opposed to the 21 frets on
a vintage Tele. (The American
Vintage ‘69 Telecaster Thinline
we converted shipped with a
21-fret neck.)

The Warmoth’s extra three frets
“push” the neck back away from
the saddles the precise amount
needed to stretch the distance
between the 12th fret and the
saddles to match the nut-to-12thfret
distance. Remember that
because of the longer scale, all the
frets are spaced apart a bit wider,
and that includes frets 12-24.
Whoever figured this out deserves
kudos. I’m sure it required some
serious math calculations.

I should mention that the 24th
fret sits right at the end of the
neck block. The fretboard itself
has a 3/8" lip that goes past the
neck block and is suspended over
the body. This is simply cosmetic—
a way to follow the 24th fret
with a bit of rosewood before the
fretboard ends.

Several other brands of baritone
necks use this same 24-fret
strategy. In fact, I own a 28"-
scale Gibson Les Paul baritone
(one heck of a guitar) that also
has a 24-fret neck. A Les Paul
with 24 frets is something to
behold. Its body, bridge, and
tailpiece are sized and spaced the
same as a standard Les Paul, so
the folks at Gibson use the 24-fret
technique to make the LP body
work with a long-scale neck.

That’s the secret.

Cheers,
Andy Ellis

Heartfelt, HandwrittenWe were absolutely pumped to receive this piece of snail mail from a
faithful reader. It’s not every day that someone uses an actual pen and
paper to send a message!

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